


Announcement

by LittleMissWolfie



Series: After [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Engagement, Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Post-Series, Pregnancy, she/her pronouns for pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8054563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissWolfie/pseuds/LittleMissWolfie
Summary: Pidge’s face turns red. She almost says, Why am I marrying you? but catches herself just in time. She doesn’t want to spoil the surprise, after all.
Or;
Lance and Pidge reveal their engagement and her pregnancy in a very dramatic way.





	Announcement

**Author's Note:**

> Not super happy with this one, but I wanted to get it churned out before Shidge Week so I could focus on that and not leave you guys hanging. It's a lot of fluff, but I hope I kind of portrayed what kind of duties everyone has now that they're celebrities. All the forced decorum was a little hard to write, but I hope I did it justice.
> 
> As always, it's time to thank my kind reviewers! Thank you to AlphaofDarkness and Ididntsignupforthisshit (sometimes I feel like I should just put a permanent thank you on the series summary for you two), and elenorasweet. I hope you all enjoy Announcement!

As Pidge waits for Lance to finish getting dressed, she muses. A year ago she was worried she didn’t look mature enough to represent Voltron at the celebratory ball. A year ago she met Lance’s family, butterflies rumbling in her stomach and head spinning with all the names. A year ago she lost her virginity in this very room.

A year ago, there was no baby in her stomach and no ring on her finger.

She glances down at the metal glinting on her left hand. It’s her mother’s old ring, a simple gold band with a diamond embedded in the shiny metal. She’d insisted on them using it until the wedding, because “there’s no reason to go out and buy two sets of rings when you only need one!” 

She and Lance haven’t told anyone outside their families (and, by extension, Keith) about the engagement or the pregnancy yet and Pidge wonders if anyone will catch on before they announce it. Her stomach hasn’t grown much larger and the morning sickness has stopped for the most part, so there’s no risk of it being found out that way, and she plans on sticking close to Lance most of the night, hand tucked into his arm, so maybe the ring will be hidden as well. Her only concern is the Altean wine she loves. Allura will know something is up immediately when she doesn’t have a glass or two. 

It’s not that she’s ashamed of where life has taken her and Lance. She’s excited as hell about their baby, about marrying him. She just wants the announcement to be special.

Her father had agreed with their plan when they told him of it. As a representative of Earth, the planet hosting the one-year anniversary ball, he has to give a speech anyway, and he’s always looking for a way to make formal events more exciting. Keith thinks it’s overkill, Matt thinks it’s tasteless, and her mother finds the entire debate extremely amusing.

Caught up in her thoughts as she is, Pidge doesn’t notice Lance is done dressing until his arms wind around her waist and presses a kiss to her neck. “Hello, beautiful,” he murmurs into the sensitive skin, sending a thrill down her spine. One rather pleasant side effect of the new life inside her is her growing libido, though at times it can be very inconvenient.

“Lance,” she chides even as her body leans into his, “don’t start anything.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She laughs. “Then why is my dress suddenly unzipped?”

“Not my fault you’re tempting me in this damn thing. Why’d you pick a dress you can’t wear a bra with if you didn’t want to start something with me?”

“Not everything I do is exclusively for you, Lance Rios,” she retorts playfully, staring at her dress in the mirror. It’s simpler than last year’s; it’s a sleeveless lace one, a deep emerald green that she finds compliments her skin in delightful ways. The bodice is a little risque, she admits, with only a thin layer of lace that cuts away in several places. She’s grateful for the padding in the bust, allowing her to go without a bra. Her breasts have been extremely sensitive lately and wearing a bra is starting to hurt a little. Allura’s dress is just as grand as last year’s, from what Pidge saw in her closet; a light lavender colored thing with a bejeweled bust and an even poofier skirt. She wonders where the princess kept all these ballgowns during the war, because she never saw anything but practical dresses and battle armor in her closet for those four years.

The boys have it easier, as they always do. They’re all wearing their suits from last year. No one cares what  _ they _ wear. Pidge is only glad the ball isn’t a televised event; she’s certain she would punch a cameraman out if one tried to do a full body pan of her dress.

“Help me with my rose?” Lance asks, and Pidge laughs at the nostalgia. He zips her dress back up and she spins in his arms, taking the Voltron Rose from his hand and pinning it to his lapel. Once it’s secure, she allows him to capture her lips in a soft kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning forward on her toes to give her just a little more height.

She has to slap his hand away when it cups her butt. “ _ After _ , Lance,” she says sternly, ignoring his whine.

“This is the first time we’ve been alone in  _ weeks, _ ” he protests. “Doctor’s appointments, dress shopping, house hunting! I wanna have sex with my amazing fiancée.”

Pidge feels warmth curl in her tummy, growling as she wills it away. “I’ve missed it too, Lance.” Then, in a teasing tone, she continues, “And if you can be patient, I’ll show you just how much.”

His face turns red.

\---

The ball begins without a hitch, which Pidge knows is a relief to Allura and Coran. Since the ball is being hosted on Earth, several rich Earthlings are in attendance, and, unfortunately, Pidge recognizes a few of their children. She manages to swing Lance in front of her just in time to dodge a pretty redhead who once hid her clothes during P.E. walking with a brunette who would scatter thumbtacks on her seat on a regular basis. He’s startled, obviously, and when they’re gone he asks “What was that for?”

“I went to school with half the kids here!” she hisses back.

“What?”

“Military brats! The Garrison funds a high school in Nevada for their workers’ kids! Before Voltron I lived in a dorm during the week!”

Lance seems to catch on quickly, thank Jesus. “They bullied you?” When she nods, he grins and says, “Well, why avoid them when you can lord how successful you are over them?”

“What? Lance,  _ no-- _ ” But he’s already pulling her in the direction of the two girls, a devious smile on his face.

When they reach the girls, who look up and blush (because, Pidge grants them, Lance has grown into his awkwardly long limbs and face, making him  _ very _ attractive), Lance says, “So these are some of your old classmates, Katherine?”

It takes Pidge a moment, because Lance  _ never _ calls her by her real name, to reply with, “Oh, yeah, this is Emily--” she gestures to the redhead, “--and Lacey.” She plasters on a faux-sincere smile, an expression she’s mastered over the years of being the equivalent of a space diplomat, and says, “How are you doing? It’s been so long!”

She sees the moment it registers in their eyes. “Katherine Holt?” Emily asks, just as fake excited. “You’re right, it’s been  _ forever. _ Last we heard, you dropped out of the Garrison school. Where’ve you been?”

“Well, you know,” Pidge says, putting as much female bite into her response as Emily put into her question, “space exploration takes up a lot of time. No real chance to go to school. I heard your dad got that promotion to SFC, by the way. What about you, Lacey?”

The redirection of the conversation startles the brunette, who’s used to following Emily like she’s the Bible. “I’m, uh, here as Em’s guest. Daddy’s still just a Private.” It’s a well-known situation for Garrison families; Mr. Spear had been a Private for nearly a decade because, while he’s not inept enough to be discharged, he’s also just inept enough for any and all promotions to evade him. “What rank’s your dad now?”

Smugly, Pidge says, “Sergeant Major.” At their astonished looks, she continues, “He was already a pretty high rank before the war, and he got promoted for his role after his recovery.”

As she speaks, Pidge notices how Emily trails her gaze up Lance’s form. Realization dawns on her and she gasps, “Wait, you’re  _ Lance Rios _ !”

“Guilty,” Lance chuckles, scratching at the back of his neck with the hand that isn’t attached to the arm Pidge has her hand wrapped around. 

“Oh my god!” Lacey chimes in. Their voices have increased in pitch so far that it makes Pidge’s ears hurt a little. “We didn’t think we’d be able to meet an actual war hero!”

“Well, I guess I have the honor of being number two.” When the girls look confused, Lance continues, “Uh, you already know Katherine.” His voice rises a little on the last syllable of her name, making it seem more like a question than a statement.

Pidge can see the wheels turning in their heads, can calculate the  _ exact _ moment they realize the implication of Lance’s words. “You’re a Paladin?!” they screech in unison, making half the room turn to look at them in irritation. They also attract the attention of the rest of the Paladins (including Allura and Coran) who wander over to where they’re standing.

Allura, of course, catches on immediately, and she wraps Pidge in a one-armed hug without detaching herself from Shiro’s arm. “It’s so good to see you, Pidge! You and Lance need to come visit more often.” The princess doesn’t pout often, but when she does, the effects are phenomenal. Pidge feels herself wilt with guilt and returns her embrace and she can feel how uncomfortable it’s making Emily and Lacey. “When I asked your father about his speech, he just started laughing. Any idea why?”

Pidge grins at her. “We’re just spicing things up, is all.” From the back of the group, Keith scoffs.

“Pidge!” Coran interjects, looking frazzled. “The robots have become mutinus! It’s all your fault! I need you to fix them after the ball!”

Lance shifts, wrapping both of his arms around her middle and pulling her into his chest. “Sorry, I already called dibs,” he says, and Pidge can almost feel him waggling his eyebrows.

“Gross,” Keith mutters.

“I don’t need to take shit from someone who can’t ask the guy he likes out,” Lance retorts. Keith’s face goes red and he whips around to make sure Matt’s not in the immediate vicinity.

“Lance, Keith, knock it off.” As always, Shiro enters Dad Mode TM to defuse the situation. He turns a kind smile to Lacey and Emily. “I’m sorry if they’re making you uncomfortable. It’s not often we’re all in the same place much these days, so it’s nice to fall back into familiar patterns. Are you Katie’s friends?”

“We went to, uh, school together,” Emily manages, looking a little constipated. She’s obviously intimidated by 

“Got any stories ‘bout her?” Hunk asks, a devious grin on his face. “She doesn’t really talk much about before the Garrison.”

Emily, with her cold heart, can’t come up with anything complimentary to say, so Lacey takes over. “Uh, she was smart? Like, smarter than most of the teachers. And she was the only girl in the engineering club. And she didn’t like to wear the uniform so she got dress-coded a lot.”

Lance hums. “A uniform, huh?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Pidge warns. “It’s probably way too small for me now.”

“That’s why I’m thinking about it.”

“Lance!” Allura and Shiro scold in unison as Pidge’s face turns red. She almost says,  _ Why am I marrying you _ ? but catches herself just in time. She doesn’t want to spoil the surprise, after all.

“Katie!” She turns around to see Felix running towards her, grin firmly in place. He looks just like Lance, but younger and with darker hair, and he’s lost his jacket and tie somewhere in the crowd. “Dance with me!” 

Beside him, looking just darling in her blue dress, Aurelia stretches her arms up towards Lance. “Bubby!”

Pidge can’t help the laugh that bubbles from her throat. “Duty calls,” she says, untangling herself from Lance and giving the assembled group a wave. Then, to Emily and Lacey, “It was nice talking to you two!” As soon as the words leave her mouth, Felix is tugging on her hand, and she lets him drag him away, watching as Lance lets Aurelia do the same. Watching them interact makes something like a maternal instinct well up in her. 

This man is going to be the father of her child.

She’s glad it’s him.

\---

When Felix and Aurelia are tired out, she and Lance deposit them with his parents and Lance whisks her off into a dance. To anyone else it would look like Lance loved dancing, but he really just uses the opportunity to have his hands on her. LIke he can hear her thoughts, his hands drift down a little lower than necessary, his thumbs brushing against the curve of her butt. Grinning, she moves his hands back to where they’re supposed to be. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get into my pants.”

“Me? Never. I have a lovely fiancée I love very much.” He grins right back at her and spins her around, making her bump into a few older couples, who glare viciously at them. Most of the Earthling attendees weren’t at last year’s ball, so they don’t know the significance of the Voltron Rose they both wear. It’s also the only reason Emily and Lacey didn’t realize who they were as soon as they saw them. Coran only introduced Allura and her father this year, since they’re the Big Deals, which Pidge is completely fine with. The whole process was a nerve-wrecking hassle.

She raises an eyebrow at him when she’s back to rights, though he knows the expression is a playful one. “That’s funny, because  _ my _ fiancé knocked me up and made  _ me _ propose to  _ him _ .” He wilts at that, and Pidge mentally backtracks. “Lance, don’t look like that. I  _ want _ to marry you. I’m not doing this for proprietary or anything as dumb as that, you  _ know _ that!”

He tilts his head. “What? I know you want to marry me. You wouldn’t be engaged to me if you didn’t.”

“Then why are you so depressed?”

He sighs, removing a hand from her waist to comb his fingers through his hair. “You’re gonna think it’s stupid.”

“Try me,” she challenges.

“Fine.” He steels himself and says, “I was going to propose to you tonight.”

She’s floored. “ _ What? _ ”

Lance winces at the shrillness of her tone and leads her to a dark corner of the room where they can converse in private. “Look, maybe propose is too strong of a word; I didn’t have a ring or anything like that. It was more like I was gonna tell you I wanted to marry you sometime in the future. A--a declaration of intent. Yeah, that sounds good.”

Pidge feels like her face is on fire. She wants to say something, but she doesn’t know  _ what, _ and even if she did, her throat’s not working at all. The most she can do is make choking sounds and hope he gets the message.

It’s not like she wasn’t expecting something like this. Logically, she knew she and Lance would either end up married or break up in a fiery hailstorm, because with feelings as intense as these, there’s no in between. But there’s a difference between logically knowing something and emotionally feeling something. So the fact that he chose tonight to propose (or make a statement of intent or whatever the hell terminology he wanted to use) filled her to the brim.

She doesn’t realize tears are welling in her eyes until Lance’s thumb brushes them away. He understands without words, like he always does, the  _ jerk _ . “I’ll have to  _ fight _ to find ways to be mad at you,” she whispers, letting herself curl into his chest and letting the vibrations of his chuckle course through her. 

“Love you, too,” he murmurs, kissing her hair.

And if they stay in that corner for another five minutes and emerge looking a little rumpled, well, who’s to blame them?

\---

It’s not long after that that her father begins climbing the stairs to commence his speech. Allura and Coran flank him when he finishes his ascent, and her face burns when her father sends her a wink. The Paladins are all assembled at the front of the group in their places of honor. This does mean, unfortunately, that Pidge and Lance can’t stand next to each other. They’re in their Voltron formation, with Shiro in the middle, Pidge and Keith to his left and right, and Hunk next to Pidge and Lance next to Keith.  _ Not like we’ll be apart for long, though _ , Pidge thinks with a smirk.

Her father’s speech begins normally (read: boring-ly) enough. He talks about the war and how Voltron saved the universe, blah blah blah. All things everyone at this ball has heard a million times before. Discreetly, she scans the crowd, amused to find some of the older attendees starting to nod off.

“This ball,” her father continues, and she takes the cue to start stretching her legs in preparation, “is a celebration of a year of peace! A year without Zarkon! A year of the intermingling of different cultures! It’s probably the most important event most of us will attend this year.

“However!” Allura and Coran trade confused looks, and Pidge has to fight the grin threatening to overtake her face. “I, personally, know of at least two events coming up that are  _ vastly _ more important than this one! If I may have my family with me?” Allura slowly nods, and Pidge, Matt, and their mother all move, climbing the stairs, energy buzzing around them. She can hear the confused murmurs of the crowd. It makes her a little giddy. Allura catches her eye, trying to figure out the big secret, but Pidge just grins and shakes her head.

“Family is the most important thing in the universe to me,” her father says when they’re all together, his arm around her and her mother’s shoulders. “After spending four years away from my wife and daughter, I know both my son and I were happy with just the four of us together again. Fate had other plans, though. I have considered Takashi Shirogane to be a member of my family since we spent countless months on a ship to Kerberos and he saved both my son and myself by taking his place in an unforgiving gladiator arena aboard a Galra ship. We now have a young man who spends more time in our home than in his dorm--” she can see Keith duck his head “--and I’m proud to be part of his life. This, of course, brings my family count up to six. Not too shabby, huh, folks?” After some murmuring from the crowd, he continues, “But why stop there? In just a month, I’ll have another son! Lance!”

She sees the grin on his face, hears Shiro and Hunk’s confused noises, feels Allura’s sharp intake of breath behind her. He treads up the stairs and takes his place next to Pidge, putting a long arm around her waist.

“Soon, my daughter will no longer be a Holt--or a Gunderson, for that matter.” He thinks he’s so funny, using her fake name, but no one laughs. “This young man loves my daughter will all his heart, and she loves him just the same, and I couldn’t have picked a better son-in-law to have!” It must be the publicity of the event that keeps Hunk, Shiro, Allura, and Coran from screaming, but Pidge knows she and Lance are in for it later. “So let’s add Lance to the family equation, shall we? Oh, and let’s not forget his parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and siblings. So now our total is twenty.” He claps, the sound startling several people standing in the crowd. “But wait, there’s more!” He removes his arms from Pidge and her mother and moves behind her and Lance, wrapping his arms around them anew. “In just six short months, half a year, my first grandchild will be born!”

Even from all the way up where she stands, Pidge can hear the strangled sound Hunk produces from deep in his stomach.

“The point I’m trying to make here,” her father concludes, removing his arms from them and standing, tall and regal and proud, “is that good things can come from war. My family has grown from four to twenty-one because of this war. Am I glad it’s over, I can be at home with my wife, and the many prisoners Zarkon abused and set to work can walk free? Am I glad the Paladins of Voltron, the five brave young souls who fought for our liberation at the cost of their youth, are able to move on and build their own lives? Of course I am. But I would not have changed what happened for the world. Everything that has happened over the course of these past four or five years, every loss of life, every meeting of souls, has brought all of us closer together. All I ask of you, of the assembled superpowers of the planet of Earth, is that you learn from Zarkon’s defeat, and that you decide to pursue peace with our new allies instead of the war our race has come to favor.”

By ending on a bleak note, her father has ensured that no one can accuse him of not taking his status as Earth’s representation for the Voltron Alliance seriously. As soon as Lance and Pidge approached him about their plan, he wrote the final part of the speech and refused to change it. “I may hate having to give these,” he said, “but I don’t trust anyone else to give them properly.”

Stunned, the crowd below begins to clap lightly, but Pidge doesn’t focus on that because she feels the weight of Allura’s gaze on her back.

\---

When Pidge and Lance are back on the main floor of the ballroom, Hunk and Shiro pounce, wrapping them up in a hug so tight Pidge thinks she can feel her ribs creak. “Holy crap, you guys!” Hunk manages to say through the tears beginning to drip down his cheeks. “I’m gonna be an uncle!”

“How long have you known?” Shiro demands. He sounds stern, but when Pidge manages to turn her head to look at him, he has a fond smile firmly in place.

“A little over a week,” Pidge answers. “Can you let me go now?”

Shiro and Hunk drop her like a hot potato, turning their attention on  Lance instead. Keith gives her a small smile and looks to where Allura and Coran are descending the stairs, warning her.

Pidge braces herself for whatever Allura and Coran will bring on her, and she stiffens a little when Allura’s long arms envelop her. “Congratulations, Pidge.”

The guilt she’s been holding on to bubbles up. “I’m grounded. I can’t leave Earth until the baby’s born. I won’t be able to come to your wedding.” She knows she’s rambling, but she can’t help it. She’s just so sorry she’s missing the biggest day of one of her best friends’ life.

Allura, for her part, tilts her head a little. “What do you mean? We’ll just push the wedding back.”

“Really?”

Behind her, Coran steps up to give Pidge a hug as well, and she’s stunned by the rarity of it. “Arrangements are actually proving more difficult than we imagined,” Allura explains, since Coran seems to be too absorbed in hugging Pidge to do it for her. “Political weddings are hard to plan, after all; you have to know exactly where everyone should be and you can’t step on any toes and don’t even get me started on the decorations. Putting it off would actually do us a favor.” Then she squints at Coran’s form. “Coran, are you alright?”

“I’m going to be an uncle,” he chokes out.

Allura and Pidge trade smiles over Coran’s shoulder. She feels a huge weight leave her shoulders.  _ I’m not ruining their lives, _ she thinks.  _ I’m allowed to have this. _

She looks over her shoulder to Lance, who’s being hassled by Hunk and Shiro while Keith looks on. She takes in his grin, his flushed cheeks, and thinks,  _ I’m having his baby. _

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, it's not the best, but it's also not the worst. I'll eventually go back through this whole series and edit it, but that probably won't be until I'm satisfied that it's complete.
> 
> On that note, I have a bit of an idea. I can keep doing fluffy little one shots like I've been doing, or I could do a darker, edgier multichap about the next generation. I have ideas for more fluffy oneshots, obviously, so I'll still write those, but if you're interested I can start planning a big multichap. This means, obviously, that the one shots would come farther apart, and I probably won't have a steady update schedule unless I drop off the face of the earth for a few months while I write, but it will be more of a challenge to me and I think it would keep you guys a little more entertained. Let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading!


End file.
